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Godley, McBee clash stirs meet Photos by Drew Fleming Chet McBee (right) takes hold of Crater�s Justin Godley�s leg in their 145 title bout. By DON HUNT One could feel the excitement shoot up tenfold when Crater High�s Justin Godley and Eagle Point�s Chet McBee stepped onto the wrestling mat Saturday evening at North Medford High. The two were competing for the 145-pound title at the Rogue Valley Classic, but there was much more to this match than a single blue ribbon. McBee came to Eagle Point with his father, new Eagle Point head wrestling coach Brad McBee, last summer. The elder McBee has made no bones over restoring the Crater-Eagle Point rivalry to its fervid past and to elevating the Eagles into the state power they were in the 1980s. Chet McBee, meanwhile, made it clear to the Rogue Valley wrestling community that he thought he�d beat Godley, a de-fending state champion, the first time they met. Their initial battle was Saturday, and what a dandy duel it was. With the Eagle Point and Crater fans on their feet, McBee stormed to a 4-1 lead after one period only to nearly get pinned in the second and fall behind 8-4. The fired-up Godley finally emerged with a 9-8 victory -- helping the Comets to the team championship -- and had some words of his own when the smoke cleared. �He�s been talking a lot about beating me, but it didn�t happen, not today and not tomorrow,� said Godley, who has earned a scholarship to wrestle for the University of Oregon. �I was hoping we�d meet in the finals today because I wanted to lock heads with that guy and get it on.� Some pushing and shoving occurred on the edge of the mat several times after the grappling warriors flew out of bounds, with Godley being penalized three points and McBee one for unsportsmanlike conduct. Crater's Shane Webster works over Eagle Point's Evan Pogue en route to a 24-9 victory. Chet McBee reveled in the matchup against Godley and can�t wait for the Eagle Point-Crater dual on Feb. 3 in Eagle Point. �This is everything everybody said it was going to be,� the younger McBee said. �(Team-mate) B.J. McFall has been tell-ing what it�s like going against these Crater guys -- how the intensity level will go way up and how there�s nothing like it. �B.J. was right, and even though I lost, that was one of the finest six-minute sets (matches) of my life.� Brad McBee, who moved his family from Dodge City, Kan., last summer, is trying to rejuvenate the Eagles to the level they were at in the 1980s, when they won six Southern Oregon Conference championships and back-to-back state titles in 1988-89. He watched with more than a little satisfaction as the Eagles earned a 3-3 standoff with the Comets in Saturday�s champion-ship matches and went 6-6 against their archrival on the day. �They caught us with their depth,� coach McBee said. �They�ve got a heck of a pro-gram, there�s no denying that. But head-up, our man against their man, it�s pretty even. �It looks to me like it�s going to be a heck of a dual on Feb. 3.� Crater crowned six individual champs Saturday and had four runners-up to finish with 413 points. Eagle Point had four champs, four seconds and scored 345 points. Grants Pass finished a distant third with 196 points, followed by Phoenix (160), South Med-ford (142), North Medford (113), Illinois Valley (77), North Valley (73), Rogue River (65) and Hidden Valley (51). Crater coach Greg Haga thought his two-time defending state champion and No. 1-ranked Comets could have wrestled better at certain weight classes. But his mild disappointment was countered by the return of two of his best wrestlers, 130-pound Morgan Hawkins and 140-pound Jayson Stratton. Hawkins, a defending state champion who has been side-lined with a broken hand all sea-son, advanced to the finals be-fore Haga held him out as a pre-cautionary measure against Jeremy McLean of Grants Pass. Stratton, who returned to the Comets� lineup earlier this week after missing several weeks with a severely sprained knee, charged through the 140-pound bracket, beating Phoenix�s Brandon Sousa 10-5 in the title match. �It�s nice to get those two back -- they need some matches under their belts before district and state,� Haga said. �Hawkins� hand is still only about 65 percent healthy, but the healing process is well under way and he wants to wrestle. I just didn�t want to send him out there against that McLean kid because it would have been a real physical match and we didn�t want to chance it.� Crater�s Shane Webster, per-haps the best wrestler in the tournament, pinned his first three opponents and then catapulted to a 24-9 technical fall victory over Eagle Point�s Evan Pogue in the 160-pound title match. Webster improved his season record to 18-0. �I worked on my shots all fall,� Webster said. �I�d find someone who wasn�t out for football and take them to the wrestling room. �I beat a lot of guys last year by wearing them down, but I needed more offense and so that�s what I�ve focused on.� Tanner Hillyer (171), Scott Toney (189) and Anders Vetch (215) also won championships for Crater. Eagle Point got off to a great start in the finals as Justin Win-ner (103), Morgan Edenstrom (119) and Scott Stockton (125) won titles in three of the first four weight classes. Heavyweight Blake Cam captured the Eagles� other title with a 2-0 win over Crater�s Austin Etchison and improved his sea-son record to 24-0. Three smaller schools also went home proud. Rogue River�s Nick Minard knocked off Grants Pass� Joey Rossknecht, 5-2, in the 112-pound title match; North Valley�s Matt Gentry beat Eagle Point�s McFall, 8-5 in the 135-pound title bout; and Phoenix�s Byron Monical scored a takedown in the final second of action to emerge with a 3-1 victory over South Medford�s T.J. Winningham. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, OR U.S.A.